Gave horse away for free, horse is being sold without my knowledge

I had a 10 year old appendix mare, who was getting injected once a year, and has a possibility of being blind in one eye, so I could no longer jump her, and I was starting my sophomore year in college, and just really did not have time to own a horse anymore. It was becoming too expensive for me to own a horse that I didn't even have time to be involved with. After much time with her on the market, I ended up giving her away for free.....

Now, I found an ad online that is the exact description of my horse with the girl that I gave her to as the contact number. I also saw an ad titled "Caution, appendix mare" and upon reading that ad, it happened to be another boarder at the same barn talking about how the girl got the horse for free, she needed hock injections otherwise she would be lame and she might be blind in one eye....which is completely true, and it is nothing I did not disclose with the girl when she agreed she wanted my horse, for free. So I email the "caution" ad, to find out what exactly is going on, and she tells me that the girl that got my horse from me is now trying to sell her....

At this point I am furious, because I gave her the horse for free and she agreed to give me first right of sale on her, and she had not said ANYTHING to me about wanting to get rid of her...so I confront her about it, and she tells me that the girl that posted the "Caution" ad, had also posted the ads that had my horse for sale, and that girl was bitter that she had gotten kicked out of the barn (for reasons which I do not know)....

At this point I didn't know who to believe, do I believe my horses' new owner or a girl that I'm emailing about things she may very well know more than me about since she is in the area with my horse and kept her horse at the same barn....Well, I finally dropped it and I was beginning to settle about the whole thing, when again today, I get an email from the same chick saying "She is trying to sell your horse again"....

I'm fed up with all of this, so I'm wondering is there any legal action or ANYTHING that I can do to get my horse back and resolve this issue so I do not have to worry about this crooked girl anymore? Or am I pretty much lost since I signed over ownership rights last year when she got her?

Thanks :)

You have no legal recourse. You gave the horse away, and signed away ownership. The mare doesn't belong to you anymore.

Sorry, but there is nothing you can do. You gave her a horse, now it is hers to do with as she sees fit. The first right means nothing, unless you have a signed contract.

I mean I understand that, but when she agreed to first right of sale with me, and she has not informed me that she is selling her, I feel like something in there is wrong...I know I do not own her, but as part of our deal in her getting my horse for free, she agreed to let me know if she was going to sell her and I have first right of sale....I've never given a horse away before so I really do not know how it all works, but I would just think people would have the decency to let me know if you're going to sell my horse after you promised me you were giving her a forever home.....you know?

Why? You gave her a horse with out having her sign a dotted line. At this point you have no control, and they have no obligation to you.

Even if you do have a signed contract, it will be difficult to enforce.

I'm sorry that you're going through this... it must be very difficult. This is a really good lesson to all of us: it's just generally not a good idea to give a horse away for free. Though it is good hearted to give away a horse to someone we think is going to love and provide a good forever home for them, some people just don't respect what they don't pay for. "Free horse" is draws the horse "flippers," traders, and kill buyers... who often have no qualms about pretending to be something they're not in order to make a profit.

Exactly. First rights of refusal aren't worth the paper on which they're written. They're entirely dependent on the person being honest who takes the horse.

I'm not going to agree that giving a horse away is a bad thing though, as my last two horses have been free.

I'm sorry this person isn't being honest with you, but unfortunately even having someone pay money for an animal doesn't always guarantee a good, forever home.

The only way you can guarantee a forever home is to keep the animal yourself.

LOL, I'm with you there... I'd certainly love for someone to give me a free horse! It's generally safer to list the horse with a price to discourage the lowlifes and then drop the price if you decide you actually trust the potential buyer.

Very true, unfortunately. I ended up paying $250.00 for a horse that had cost $50,000.00 as a yearling!

Agreed, and that's why I haven't been able to bring myself to sell a single horse I've owned. Two of them are buried on my parents' property, and two more are enjoying retirement there.

I think this boy was a pretty good 'freebie'. As for unloading him, you'll have to pry him out of my cold, dead hands!

He's beautiful!

Here's my freebie:


Of course, he was given to me by my very good friend and mentor... so she knew what she was doing when she gave him to me. ;)